Brief

This is the true story of Elizabeth's courage and triumphs overcoming many traumas throughout her life. “With All My Heart” captures relatable experiences and life altering lessons, which allow for happiness and positivity to blossom.

What We Liked

The premise and the message are strong and appealing. The character is relatable, and the writing is easy and to the point.

Film: With All My Heart is a beautiful, inspiring story that could turn into a serious, dramatic, but uplifting movie. Elizabeth had many hardships to overcome in her life, fueling a rich narrative that could explore in-depth the psychology of important topics, such as sexual abuse, depression, and positive thinking.

TV: With All My Heart could be a wonderful adaptation to a limited series because it follows the entire life span of Elizabeth, a sexual abuse survivor who overcomes her traumas and works hard on herself to live a happy fulfilled life. Each episode or two could focus on a certain time in her life, and the challenges she had in that period. The ending is uplifting and encourages others to come forward and/or face their own traumas.

Key points: The premise; The main character's relatability and determination; The life lessons; Being based on a true story; The relationship between Elizabeth and Mimi.

Synopsis

In her mid-30s, Elizabeth is flooded by memories she can no longer ignore: the sexual abuse she suffered from her father at a very young age. As she begins her process to deal with it, she finds forgiveness to move on from the anger. The only person she trusted the information with was her godmother, Mimi, who was her mother’s best friend. Elizabeth was born premature. This forged a special bond and connection between Elizabeth and her Godmother Mimi, who held her and cared for her because her own mother was afraid of the frailness of her tiny newborn. Later in life, Mimi was the only person she trusted and who would tell her stories about her parents. Like, how the mother never got over her brother’s death and how her father was a cheater with alcohol and gambling problems.

When Elizabeth was 8 years old she was excited to spend time with her mother at their family cottage. However, her mother had lost hope and knowing she was sick, didn't take care of herself. For two weeks she lay on the couch doing nothing but drinking her rye and ginger ale, leaving her young daughter to care for herself. By the time Mimi and her father came to the cottage, her mother was so ill that she had to be hospitalized. During this time, Beth lived with Mimi and her daughter, Helen. Beth doesn’t remember much about dealing with her mother’s passing. When she was 9, her father got remarried, and she went back to live with him and her new alcoholic step-mother. Not only was her new stepmother 25 years younger than her father, she was constantly drunk. Elizabeth spent month after month living in terrible fear. The alcoholic gave up, tragically ending her own life in the family garage. At the wake, her father introduced Beth to friends who would be living in their home to help care for Elizabeth and her sister. Only 9 months later, Elizabeth now had a new step-mother, Hilda. She was a mean woman who bullied Beth for years, crushing her self-esteem and depriving her of a comfortable life. The few times she could see Mimi were a blessing. Beth chooses to tell the school counselor about the mistreatment at home, but that causes havoc when Hilda and her dad find out. After 4 years, Elizabeth is thrilled with the news of the marriage between her dad and Hilda ending.

Beth, her sister, and father went to live with relatives until the dad could find a new home, and shortly after her dad said they could move in with Mimi and Helen. Beth made new friends at her new school, especially a girl named Tasha. They spent a fun summer working at a sleep away camp. One night at camp, an older staff member came into Elizabeth's bunk and began to violate her. Because of her past, she froze, but didn't understand why she couldn't fight back. She told Tasha the next day, and the two confronted her abuser, which gave Beth satisfaction, even though he of course, denied it.

Beth goes to college, makes new friends, and develops relationships, but always has trouble with physical intimacy. Her love life is always a mess. One day, she’s abused by a family friend she considered a brother. The next day he pretends nothing had happened which only makes her feel worse about herself. At 16, she begins an affair with an older, married man, yet another symptom of the sexual abuse that is buried deep in her soul. Beth realizes many people consider her lucky because her father is rich, but the wounds from the past begin to take a toll on her health. She reconnects with an old love, with whom she never slept with, and he asks her out in hopes that he will be able to have sex with her. Elizabeth is unknowingly terrified and it never happens. Not long after, the ex-boyfriend announces he’s getting married; only months into his marriage, he sadly loses his life in a tragic accident.

At school, Beth meets a new guy, Neil. They begin a relationship and go out on vacation, only to return to the news that her father had died of a heart attack. Beth feels sad, but also other things she can’t explain. The father’s will leads Beth and her sister to fight with their immediate family, which forever changes their relationship. Throughout this period, Beth gets married to Neil.

The marriage goes well until Beth gets pregnant. She puts on a lot of weight, Neil gets worried about her body change, which hurts Beth. The birth is complicated, and Beth is left alone to deal with the newborn baby, as Neil kept on a busy work and leisure schedule. Things get better, and they have a second baby, but Neil still doesn’t prioritize his family over work and golfing. Beth decides to try to be happy; but she can’t, and eventually, she asks for a divorce. Neil, his parents, their friends, and even Beth’s sister blame her for the separation, making Beth feel very abandoned and alone.

She moves to an apartment with the girls and starts a relationship with Barry, who later moves to Australia. One day, Beth finds out she’s pregnant with Barry’s child and makes an extremely difficult decision to have an abortion. She continues the relationship with Barry, long-distance until she finds out he was cheating on her. Beth continues her life but starts to notice that the anger she had been cultivating inside makes her face health problems, such as random infections. She meets a holistic doctor named John, who helps her treat some of her health problems, and he then begins to court her. Eventually, she gives in, and they get married, even though she’s not in love with him.

Beth starts on a deeper journey of holistic treatments to clear her negative energy with a specialist called Anne-Marie. With time, she feels the results of Anne-Marie’s help and discovers that her husband John had lied about many things, including being a nurse, and had contracted a lot of debt. Beth breaks off the marriage and starts over, now in her 40s.

She meets a guy named Timothy, and more life changes occur. Elizabeth begins studying massage therapy, which makes her face some old destructive patterns. The massaging and being touched triggers deep emotions from the past. Her fear of men, her poor body image issues, and her underlying binge eating disorder, all begin to surface. She also realizes that her health is declining because of her poor eating habits over the years. This leads her to a journey of deeper healing and a healthier lifestyle. With time, she learns how to open herself to Timothy, and they get married and adjust to their new life and family. Even though blending a family strains their relationship many times; they have been together ever since.

Now old and unwell, Mimi had to be moved to a nursing home, and Timothy’s father dies from Alzheimer's, and his mother not too long after. Only 6 months following, Mimi gets sick and is moved to a hospital, where she slowly dies. Devastated, Beth and Timothy try to recover from the tough year. The tough times reflected on Beth’s daughters too, Samantha and Sydney.

Samantha, who always suffered from separation anxiety, started hurting herself and struggled to find the right medication. The special attention to Samantha triggered Sydney's feelings of neglect, and she struggled with medication and depression for a while. Later, Samantha was able to find stability in medication, and Sydney came out as a bisexual, which relieved some of her anxiety. At some point in her life, Beth seeks out a medium that allows her to communicate with people who have passed away from her life. She connects with her mother, whom she believes was always there with her, with Mimi, who is in peace with her afterlife, and with her father, who profusely apologizes for his actions.

In her path to a more empowered life, Beth reads and learns more about positive thinking, releasing bad energy, and visualizing life goals. She learns how to see her relationship with money and fear from a different perspective and attempts to get what life can give best. Elizabeth told her story to inspiration and empower others to become survivors of their past. Through her journey and healing from her past traumas, Elizabeth is living proof that with desire and work, everyone can live a fulfilled and joyful life.

About The Author

This is Elizabeth's debut as a published author fulfilling her dream to inspire and empower people through her story. She is an advocate of health and wellness, with a passion to coach others towards living healthier lifestyles. Writing from her heart, Elizabeth found the courage to share her true and inspirational story in which she overcomes many relatable and traumatic experiences. Elizabeth lives in Canada where she cherishes her time with her husband, children and friends.